1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for pressure washing where the washing is accomplished in a manner that the water is dispensed at a less accessible location, such as delivering the water through an elongate telescoping tube to upper elevations of windows or buildings.
2. Background Art
There are many situations where it is desirable to wash windows, walls, or other structures where the workers accomplishing the washing are at a ground elevation, and the pressurized water is dispensed at an upper location with washing implements or discharge apparatus or other devices being positioned at the higher location. Quite often, this is done by means of an elongate tube defining a hose carrying passageway. The hose is inserted into the passageway with the water being discharged from the hose at the upper end of the tube, and the hose extending from the lower end of the tube to the upper end portion thereof. The tube may be a telescoping tube section which is either increased in length or shortened by adjusting the relative position of the tube members that make up the telescoping tube section.
In accomplishing the washing, there are various operations which often must be performed in addition to the actual washing. This can involve such things as removing and replacing the hose, retracting, partially retracting, or extending the tube sections, locking the tube sections in place, supporting the telescoping tube section, placing different water discharge devices or implements, etc. These are time consuming and sometimes have inconveniences associated with the same. It is toward problems such as these that the present invention is directed. A search of the patent literature has shown a number of patents relating to such pressure washing systems and other mechanical devices that are used in the present invention. These are as follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,695 (Howard), shows a “Reel Assembly for Hose” which comprises a circular-shaped housing in which is wound a hose on a reel, and the hose extends outwardly through a telescoping support member. The upstream end of the hose is connected to a fitting in the reel and then the fitting makes a connection to another connection to the faucet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,256 (Fischer) discloses a device for cleaning gutters. There is an elongate telescoping pole which is tubular, and a water hose extends through the telescoping pole and then through an end fitting 38 which is generally U-shaped. At the exit end of the fitting 38 there is a water discharge member in the configuration of a fork with three discharge tubes that are pivotally mounted at 34 (see FIG. 3) to the end fitting.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,678 (Lang) discloses an apparatus for cleaning various wall surfaces. There is a telescoping pole having at its upper end the cleaning device that is pivotally connected to the pole and discharges high-pressure water (cleaning fluid) at locations so that the cleaning member stays properly oriented to the wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,835 (Gobbel) shows an extension device for a spray can where the spray can would be used, for example, in killing insects or lubricating shutters on the outside of a house. There is an extension apparatus that is connected to the spray can, and the extension apparatus has upper end dispensing portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,392 (Pleshek) discloses an apparatus particularly adapted for cleaning interior building surfaces. There are telescoping pipe elements 13 and 31 that are locked together by a collar 59. A feature of this device is the use of self-coiling hose sections within the telescoping pipes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,503 (Giordano et al.) discloses an elongate handle which is connected into a socket that is in turn connected to a nozzle fitting at the end of a hose.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,753 (England, Jr.) shows a window cleaning nozzle in which the hose 14 passes through a side opening in the handle and extends through the end part of the handle to the cleaning nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,702 (Cook) shows a telescoping pipe which houses a corrugated extendable hose which collapses axially within the telescoping pipe sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,225 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,382 (both issued to Davis) are related applications. There is shown a telescoping pipe handle device. The control is located on the lower part of the pipe at 18 to control a flow through the nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,212 B1 (Finley) shows a twist-lock connector for interlocking telescoping tubular members, and the specific application which is mentioned in the introduction of the patent is for telescopic vacuum cleaner tubes. As described in column 5, beginning on line 55, the twist-lock connector is put into its locking position by rotating the rotatable member 40 in a first direction until the first and second canting surfaces 41A and 41B engage the first and second seating member canting surfaces 25A and 25B to cause the seating members 26A and 26B to frictionally engage the outer surface 82 of the second tubular member 80.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,284 (Chiu) discloses an extensible cleaner rod, and the prior art rod is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The apparatus which is being patented can best be seen in FIG. 1, and there is a connection where there are fingers 113 which are compressed by the surface of a nut 12 to make a tight connection between the tubular members. The substance of this patent is to provide an outer tube and an inner tube telescoped inside one another, and then a water guide tube of a smaller diameter than that of the inner tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,578 (Chiou) discloses a telescoping cleaning wand in which a tapered spread ring 7 is compressed by a nut 8 which has an inner non-threaded tapered portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,364 (Gilbert et al.) shows an adjustable length riser in a toilet tank where there is a connection for a telescoping member where there is a nut (see FIG. 6) that has cylindrical threads and a second portion with a tapered interior surface. The tapered surface 96 engages fingers to cause frictional engagement between the two members.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,041 (Owenmark) discloses a locking device for telescopically fitting parts, such as used in a vacuum cleaner. There is an exteriorly threaded hollow sleeve member 20 which fits around the pipe 16 with a lug or lugs 21 in the member 20 fitting in a matching recess 19 so that this sleeve member is non-rotatable and actually becomes part of the pipe 16. The sleeve member is severed at one location along its circumference and is somewhat resilient so that it can be expanded moderately to fit over the cone-shaped end member 18 to fit around the pipe 16. The intermediate member 22 is resilient and is slotted from opposite ends so that it is moderately expandable and compressible.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,315 (Klementich) shows in pages 5-10 of the drawings various types of threads with various dimensional relationships.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,611 (Adams et al.) discloses a pipe connection where it possible to detect wear between the pin-and-box joints.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,832 (Ellis et al.) shows a “Collet Compression Connection” which can best be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. The member 20 has interior threads 24 which are tapered, and these join to a pipe directly or through a fitting. At the other end of this fitting 20, there are exterior threads which appear to be non-tapered, and extending axially from this portion are circumferentially spaced collet fingers 36. There is a nut 16 which engages the threads and also has a tapered interior surface which grips the collet fingers 34 to press them inwardly into engagement with the other pipe member P.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,781 (Conroy) discloses a pipe joint where there is a threaded joining member which has interior threads that join to one pipe section, and an interiorally tapered section which engages an inner tapered section that has threads which cut into a plastic pipe or the like to form a connection.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,292 (Lester) discloses a portable scrubbing tool where there is a main support pole 21 and an auxiliary support pole 29 pivotally connected to the main pole 21 toward an upper end thereof. The auxiliary support pole 29 is described in column 6, beginning on line 10 and continuing on through the bottom of column 6 and up to the top part of column 7. Then on line 6 of column 7, the method of using the two poles 21 and 29 is described. This states that the operator will hold the main pole 21 in one hand, and auxiliary support poles 29 in the other hand. He then applies the brush member 3 to the surface to be cleaned.